More Friday Family Blogging

Emma is proving to be a wonderful model-- I'm poking a camera in her face all the time. Here are a few recent shots for your viewing pleasure (I hope). These are from the Independence Day party last week:

I don't remember ever seeing a baby so good natured about being confined to a playpen.

Above we see Emma getting her heavy metal holler down...

Of course she charmed all the guests (like Aunt Sara)...

And kept flashing that smile that lights up the sky way more than any silly fireworks.

Friday Family Blogging

I thought I would focus on my neice Raechelle this week, since I don't see her all that often; nor does the west coast side of the family, and I thought they might appreciate seeing some pictures.

Above, you'll see Raechelle taking her first driving lesson-- she even got dressed up for the occasion.

And here she is auditioning to replace the San Diego Chicken (though a bit prematurely as the original continues to tour ballparks to engage in his fowl antics). I do like Rae's option ot go with the speckled look, though.

You've got to admit, Rae gives off a vibe of total self-assurance (I'm sure the stuffed lamb is merely a companion and serves no therapeutic role).

This is from last week's Fourth of July gala at Theresa & Dan's house. I think that's chocolate cheescake on Raechelle's plate-- a perfect choice to top off the good grub and great company!

Friday Philosophizing

Today's pearls of wisdom come from the Swiss philosopher Henri Frederic Amiel (1821-1881), who wasn't terribly prolific but still came up with this food for thought:

"The natural liking for the false has several causes:
the inheritance of prejudices, which produces an
unconscious habit, a slavery; the predominance of
the imagination over reason, which affects the
understanding; the predominance of the passions
over the conscience, which depraves the heart; the
predominance of the will over the intelligence,
which vitiates the character."

Sleater Kinney!

I'm not sure this video is really all that representative of the group's oeuvre, but it sure is fun, so I thought I'd post it here. Sleater Kinney may be the best band to hail from the Northwest since Paul Revere & the Raiders (sorry, couldn't resist a little needle aimed at the grunge fans):

A Favorite Painting, 37

Thomas Cole, View on the Catskill-- Early Autumn 1837

Next week I'll be driving across New York state to Cooperstown and points east, having recently won a couple of tickets to the Baseball Hall of fame in a raffle. I know that for many outside the state, New York is defined by its urban landscapes, most prominently of course, the Big Apple itself. It's easy to forget just how rustic much of this region was and remains even today once you get out of New York City, or wander even just a little north or south of the I-90 corridor between Buffalo and Albany. It's no coincidence that the first major school of American painters in the early nineteenth century took their name and much of their subject from the Empire State-- namely the Hudson River School, of which Thomas Cole was perhaps the leading figure. Much of what Cole and his cohort tried to convey and celebrate was the majesty of this country's natural setting, especially in the mostly still undeveloped areas away from the eastern seaboard. Scenes like those depicted above made a place for a human presence (look closely in the lower left), but acknowledged that people were dwarfed by their environment in ways that were concurrently primal, sustaining, uplifting, and intimidating. Part of their message was that as Americans we had by the 1820s figured out how to fit into such an imposing landscape without undermining its beauty or bounty, and also without entirely taming its more frightening aspects. Eventually we would mostly stop being so in awe of our surroundings, and that wasn't necessarily a good thing. I'm looking forward on my drive to seeing some places that resemble the lovely setting of Cole's painting (Cooperstown itself sits in a particularly bucolic spot as I recall), and I'm pretty sure I won't be disappointed.

Will Wonders Never Cease?

As reported here yesterday, I went out tot he old ballbark last night and ended up (much to my surprise) seeing a pretty good game, actually won by the home team. A pitcher with a name right out of Damon Runyan-- Lance Broadway-- went the distance and didn't allow a run until the ninth inning. He also allowed the tying run to come to the plate by putting an additional couple of runners on, but hung in there to strike out the last two batters and preserve the victory. I was convinced that if they had gone to the bullpen, the lead would have evaporated, and so kudos to manager Ken Oberkfell for sticking with Broadway (the name was especially appropriate in that the Bisons are the Mets farm team, and they were playing Scranton-Wilkes Barre, who are affiliated with the Yankees). Now you might think this in some way invalidates my theory of the bad uniforms, but in fact they trotted out a much less offensive third option last night-- maybe this win will keep them dressing sharp and foregoing the ugly tunics displayed here yesterday.

Thursday's Quote

I'm not sure I entirely agree with this sentiment from Nobel Prize winning novelist Albert Camus, but it's a point worth pondering:

"If there is sin against life, it consists perhaps
not so much in despairing of life as in hoping
for another life and in eluding the implacable
grandeur of this life."

Boy, Are the Buffalo Bisons Bad!

I was really looking forward to watching the Buffalo Bisons this summer, as in years past. But the team is woeful. I'm going to the game later tonight, but expect the only real entertainment will be watching to see if they come up with a new way to lose (actually, the company should be pleasant too). Last week, I saw them blow a five run lead in the eighth inning; last night on TV they collapsed again, this time in the ninth (though to be fair, it was only a one-run lead). I think they may have the worst record in all of professional baseball, and deservedly so. But the real point I wanted to make about all this is that it was predictable, if we'd only been paying attention when their new uniforms were introduced last winter. The change was occasioned by their switching from the Indians to the Mets as their parent club. Anyway, take a look at these two jerseys and tell me if you can imagine them being worn by a winning team:

Buffalo has long suffered from an inferiority complex in relation to our bigger downstate counterpart-- so, why did the Bisons need to have the NY of the Mets stitched into their uniforms? It's contradictory and ugly (they also have an NY stitched below the B on their caps, which also looks stupid), and no doubt contributes to their lackluster play.

This is even worse-- it looks like the shirt that would be worn by a beer-league team of undertakers. Is it any wonder that the team isn't playing any better, when they have to take the field in these horrible uniforms?

The Last Book I Read

Kitty Ferguson's book tracing the influence of the ancient philosopher Pythagoras down through the centuries was a surprisingly good read. I can't remember how or where I heard about it (maybe from the New York Review of Books), but I'm glad I jotted it down as something to look for this summer. It's an outstanding intellectual history that serves not only to explain how Pythagoras and his followers constructed their views and shared their discoveries over 2500 years ago (most central to the book's "plot" is their discovery of the natural numeric relationship of musical notes necessary to create sonic harmony), but also serves as an excellent survey of the means by which knowledge itself traverses both space and time. My own grasp of math and science is pretty rudimentary, but Ferguson made some pretty complex notions entirely clear which, rather than bogging the story down, contributed to the narrative momentum as the ideas spread and often were revised from one generation to the next. Just as compelling as her obvious grasp of the mathematics involved in this story is her willingness to engage elements of faith without becoming patronizing, a fair treatment especially given the variety of motivating, and perspective-shaping, forces that operated on such descendants of Pythagoras as, for example, Johannes Kepler. Ferguson, herself a musician, was perhaps attuned to this potential balance between science and something more metaphysical in its nature by the power of music to transcend purely mathematical precision to move a listener on a more fundamental level, a trait that seems entirely consistent with the worldview she ascribes to Pythagoras himself. This was the book of the summer so far for me.

Wednesday's Quote

Jean De La Fontaine (no relation to Pat as far as I know), was a seventeenth century French poet. Some consider him the greatest French writer prior to Victor Hugo, but I have no opinion on that. Here's a short excerpt from his Fables that I do think is on the mark:

"Anyone entrusted with power will abuse it
if not also animated with the love of truth
and virtue, no matter whether he be a
prince, or one of the people."

Classic Jazz

It's been awhile since I posted a good jazz clip here. So let's remedy that with a 1959 video of Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers featuring Wayne Shorter on sax, Walter Davis Jr. on Piano, Jymie Merritt on bass and Lee Morgan on trumpet. The tune is a Dizzy Gillespie composition:



If you are unfamiliar with Blakey's group, do yourself a favor and hunt up some more of their work. Blakey was the only constant in the group for over thirty plus years, and he gave a lot of young players a boost into the limelight-- starting with guys like Morgan and Shorter, Bobby Timmons, Freddie Hubbard, etc. etc. and right on down through the Marsalis brothers and Terrence Blanchard in the 1980s. Outside of jazz circles, I don't think Blakey's name is as well-recognized as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie or Charlie Parker, but it should be.

A Night at the Movies

The Riviera Theater in North Tonawanda is having a Paul Newman Retrospective this summer, kicking off last week with Cool Hand Luke. I saw the movie once before, probably more than twenty years ago and didn't think it was all that great (though obviously a lot of folks consider it a classic-- like Sumner Sloan*), but that was on TV. Seeing it on the big screen, in a nicely restored old movie palace with a good sized crowd was a whole other experience, and I had a really good time. When the Riviera hosts movies, they always provide some additional period detail (that is, from the period when it first opened back in the 1920s) by having someone play their "Mighty Wurlitzer" as folks are finding their seats:

I'm hoping to catch a couple more of the Newman series before I head back out west. I never liked Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid much either, so maybe that's the best candidate for rehabilitation by environment, and it's scheduled for next week. I'll report on whether the Riviera magic strikes twice.

*Diane Chambers' fiance in the premiere episode of Cheers-- Cool Hand Luke was his contribution to the bar debate on the "sweatiest movie ever made."

Soup Diary 090707

I'm not a really big fan of sausages. I like a good hot dog (Sahlen's is my preferred brand), and on occasion some good Polish or Italian sausage might hit the spot. But I generally won't go out of my way to have sausage if there are other options; even at breakfast, I prefer bacon or ham. Today I had a bowl of Roasted Red Pepper and Sausage soup, and while it was pretty tasty, I can't help but think that it would've been better if they left the sausage out, as its only contribution (that I could detect) was to add a few chewy lumps to the mix. I will say that the crumbly cheese (seemed a little mild to be feta) that the Fables chef sprinkled on top (in place of the sour cream shown in the above picture found on-line) was a nice touch, and they had fresh rye bread to go along with the soup, so that was a plus. In sum, it was another case of something good falling short in comparison with the more stellar soups I've enjoyed in recent weeks. I'm guessing that the Creamy Black Bean is due for a comeback pretty soon, so I have something to look forward to.

Tuesday Morning Philosophy

Pierre Sylvain Marechal (1750-1803) was a French poet and revolutionary. I guess it was in the latter role that he formulated the following statement:

"Let the revolting distinction of rich and poor
disappear, once and for all, the distinction of
great and small, of masters and valets, of
governors and governed. Let there be no
difference between human beings other than
those of age and sex. Since all have the same
needs and the same faculties, let there be one
education for all, one food for all."

Hero of the Small Screen

I know the Three Stooges shorts were originally prepared for theatrical exhibition, but I first saw them as a kid on TV, so I think this fits under the above heading. Moe was a meanie; Larry was just kind of there to look goofy; but Curley, well Curley was a comic genius. Here's a great example of his ability to mine comic gold from a simple encounter with a bowl of soup:

Quote of the Day

With newspapers struggling, both financially and in living up to their responsibilities with respect to democracy, it's worth remembering these words from John Peter Zenger (1697-1746), the colonial printer whose trial helped establish the principle of "freedom of the press." I couldn't find a picture of Zenger, but here's a copy of the paper he published in which he criticized the governor of New York, leading to a charge of libel (a charge of which he was acquitted):

"The loss of liberty in general would soon
follow the suppression of the liberty of the
press; for it is an essential branch of liberty,
so perhaps it is the best preservative of the whole."

More Photographic Experiments

Continuing with my recent efforts to figure out how to take good pictures at night, I decided to see if I could capture some of the fireworks display witnessed last night at Niawanda Park in Tonawanda. These are the ones that turned out best (out of about 45 pictures).

I was shooting with a tripod, which I think helped a lot, but even so, most of the pictures I took are pretty mundane. The ones above and below were about the best.

I think that all things considered, spending time capturing these images (that is, monkeying with angles and settings) meant I couldn't enjoy the show the way I usually do, and the photos themselves (even the better ones) ultimately fall short of fully recording the experience, especially without the attendant ka-booms. So next year I may leave the camera at home and just enjoy the display in the moment.

More of Dad's Favorite Songs

A few days ago I posted a video of the song "Master Jack," and noted it was one of the few rock songs my Dad liked. In the comments to that post, my sisters Theresa and Liz both remembered he was also a fan of the Katrina & the Waves song, "Walking on Sunshine." I can't embed the video for that song here, but you can find it at this site. However, it did remind me of another tune he liked, which he was amazed to learn (from me) was written by Paul McCartney (though it turned out I was wrong; McCartney produced Mary Hopkin's recording, but the words were actually written by someone else, and set to a melody from an old Russian folk song). Here's the video for that song:

The Amazing Natalie!

There was a cookout at Theresa & Dan's yesterday to celebrate the Fourth of July, prior to heading down to the Niagara River for fireworks. One of the highlights of the day was this little performance courtesy of Natalie:



Dan promises to have his protege ready to walk on sword blades or lay on a bed of nails in time for next year's festivities.

Sunday's Quote

Here's a "golden oldie" from Meng-tse (aka Mencius), a Chinese philosopher from the fourth century BC:

"The men of old wanting to clarify and diffuse
throughout the empire the light which comes
from looking straight into the heart and then
acting, first set up good government in their
own states; wanting good government in their
own states, they first established order in their
families; wanting good order in their families,
they first rectified their hearts."

Bonus Family Blogging

l. to r.: Ben, Emma, Nik, Natalie

I thought I'd share this picture because a) I think it's pretty good, and b) because it was taken by my four year old niece Helen, and c) because I wanted to be able to say I was the first one to publish her work.

Saturday Morning Cartoon

The Bugs Bunny and Roadrunner Show was always the last cartoon show I watched on Saturday mornings, coming on around lunch time as I recall. Here's a classic from director Chuck Jones that didn't actually star any of the big names in the Looney Tunes/Merry Melodies cast:

Political Comment

If, as some commentators are suggesting, Sarah Palin resigned as Alaska's governor so she could spend the next two years preparing her run for the presidency, I have to ask this question: does anyone share her seeming belief that she is some kind of candidate of destiny? That perception of herself certainly came across in her comments during the 2008 campaign. I also can't help but wonder (again, assuming that is the reason for her resignation) that she is being egged on by some of the same supporters who backed George W. Bush, and did so because they recognized the ill-informed and tragically uncurious W. as someone who would easily do their bidding. Palin certainly comes across to me as someone willing to sell her political soul for a shot at the top spot, but she also seems to think she is some kind of force way beyond any evidence of her influence in national affairs. Then again, maybe it's just that all the documented scandals and abuses of power during her term in office have finally added up to some major impending backlash, and she's just ducking out before the storm fully hits. Either way, I can't see how this could possibly bode well for her political future. Maybe she'll just fade back to being a full-time hockey mom-- the role she seems best suited for, from my perspective.

Fourth of July Quote

This nugget from the fifteenth century Hindu philosopher Kabir might not seem, on the surface, all that relevant to America's Independence Day, but if you think about it a moment the connection will become clear:

"Men have always looked before and after,
and rebelled against the existing order. But
for their divine discontent men would not
have been men, and there would have been
no progress in human affairs."

The Last Movie I Saw

Michael Mann's new movie Public Enemies seems to have something, actually several things, on its mind, but doesn't really spend enough time on any of them to amount to much. Johnny Depp's performance as John Dillinger gives the film an excellent center, and the themes spun off this tale of the notorious outlaw's latter years all merit consideration and development, but for some reason Mann does little more than introduce them before diving back into a pretty mundane love story that, frankly, is the least interesting of all the various plot elements. These include themes of criminal celebrity, abuses of government power (even touching on the current torture debate), politicalization of crimefighting, and a few more. The film (like all of Mann's work) looks great, and the period detail adds to its visual appeal. But if you're going to make the pretense of offering something more than a "shoot'em up," then please follow through instead of letting those ideas wither away when the bullets fly. There's no reason to expect more from a summer blockbuster than the action set pieces that are plentiful here; but if you're going to tantalize the more discerning part of the audience with hints of something more substantial, please deliver the goods on that score too. Otherwise, the movie feels flat, as this one does, when it had the potential to be so much more.

Soup Diary 090703

I want my readers to know that I "took one for the team" today in my soup selection. Once again, the Sweet Potato Poblano was on the menu at Fables (along with the Spinach Gorgonzola, another recent favorite), but I foregoed (forewent?) it in favor of something I hadn't tried before, namely the French Dip Soup. This was a hearty concoction (though not as thick as the picture above implies) of essentially French onion soup augmented with chunks of mushroom and steak. It was tasty enough, but ultimately just a slightly more robust version of onion soup, and therefore nothing really special. If my pursuit of variety means I don't taste the Poblano again this summer, I'll be kicking myself (and will likely exaggerate its perfection in my memory through the coming winter months); next time I'll just have to spring for two cups to insure at least one fully satisfactory taste experience.

Friday Family Blogging Quiz

This photo of Nicky and Natalie is cropped. In the original, there is a toy just to their left (your right), one that has been enjoyed by virtually all the grandkids who have frolicked in Gramma's backyard over the years (I say "virtually" because, while all have played with it, maybe it's going out on a limb to assume they all enjoyed the experience-- or am I just being obtuse to throw you off the scent?). What is it?

In last week's quiz, you were asked to identify who was standing just off-camera in a picture of the Banning kids. I guess everyone bowed to Lil Sis' expertise, because she was th only one to guess, and as it happens, guess right (or maybe it wasn't a guess... maybe Lizzie had some inside information, hmmm?). Anyway, congratulations to Lizzie, and let's see if we can't get more contributors this week.

Several weeks ago, I opened up a vote on which rock star a particular picture of Nik most resembled. After tallying up the votes, the winner is... Bob Dylan with a grand total of two tallies (no one else got more than one). So I guess it's official: Nik looks like the grand old man of folk rock, at least the way he looked in his sixties prime. Thanks to everyone who voted (and if you didn't, why not?). Notice I'm putting a lot of questions in parentheses today (do you think that's a positive trend?).

More Friday Family Blogging

Here are a couple of group shots that manage to show several branches and generations of the clan all at once. The first depicts a gathering including Mom, Uncle Dick and Aunt Patty out near Seattle, along with most of the Dobes's and Bannings (I'm guessing either Richard or Catie snapped the picture)

Second is a photo commemorating a tea party involving the full complement of females in the family from a couple of years ago (only Emma, who wasn't born yet, is missing):

A good looking group of gals, no?

Friday Family Blogging

I thought I would share a couple of photos I found taken during Mom and Dad's honeymoon, part of which found them in Gettysburg. First, here's one of Mom:

And here's one of Dad:

They must've had a good time, because I remember them taking us kids to the battlefield when I was around six or seven. I mark that trip as one of the earliest events that helped launch me on my career as a historian.

Friday Philosophy

It seems appropriate, given the impending Independence Day holiday, to offer up a quote from the author of the Declaration of Independence, namely Thomas Jefferson. This is from a letter he wrote on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of that document:

"All eyes are opened or opening to the rights of man.
The general spread of the light of science has already
laid open to every view the palpable truth that the
mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on
their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred
ready to ride them legitimately by the grace of God."

A Favorite Song From Many Years Ago

I never thought I'd see a video for this song-- will the wonders of YouTube never cease? This is the only "rock" song I can remember my Dad claiming to like, which really impressed me back in 1968. I still get a kick out of hearing it. Four Jacks and a Jill were a South African band, which seemed pretty exotic back then, and this was their only hit in the US. Maybe it'll bring back some memories for you too:

A Classic Comic Strip

Created by Frank King back around 1920, Gasoline Alley was famous for being one of the few strips where the characters aged more or less in real time. It began as a take-off on the automobile craze, with the main characters mostly talking about and fixing their cars and bragging about the trips they would take (hence the name). But when Walt Wallet found an abandoned baby on his doorstep, the little guy and Uncle Walt's efforts to raise him pretty much took over the storyline. I believe the strip still runs today, though it's been years since I've seen it in a newspaper; King was succeeded as the artist by the very capable Dick Moores and later Jim Scancarelli, who kept up the Wallet family chronicles in fine fashion.

But I wanted to cast a spotlight on the wonderful Sunday pages produced by King in the strip's heyday of the 1930s. He really stretched out and played around with the format (back in the days when each weekend strip occupied an entire page, this was much easier to do), and introduced elements of surrealism and fantasy which were nonetheless somehow consistent with the general tone of the strip even during its more straightforward plots during the week.

These reproductions don't do them justice. A few years back, the periodical Drawn & Quarterly reprinted a whole bunch of these fabulous pages with excellent attention to making them appear as they originally did 70 or more years ago. They really made one appreciate just how artistic the funnies could be.

Every fall, Uncle Walt and Skeezix would take a stroll in the woods to check out the autumn foliage, and these were among the most stunning pieces King concocted, and I imagine regular readers looked forward to seeing how he might top himself each year. I can't think of anyone working in newspaper comics today who exhibits quite the same ambition (which might be more due to changes in format than individual initiative), but it sure is a treat to revisit these great examples of comic art from the past.

A Favorite Painting 36

John Sloan, Election Night 1907

Is there any way, not knowing the title of this piece, that you would guess it represents a political celebration (as opposed to say a New Year's Party)? One possible clue is the fake nose worn by the reveler in the lower right corner of the picture-- a takeoff on Pinocchio perhaps? I think you can guess how that would relate to politics. How about the brazen red dress of the woman in the center of the festivities-- could that be an allusion to a radical turn which was definitely in the air in the first decade of the 20th century when a number of Socialist candidates won (mostly) local offices? Actually I think the ultimate giveaway is the elevated train steaming overhead. Even more prevalent than radicalism in that era was the momentum generated by the Progressive movement, a response to modernism that sought to preserve a semblance of democracy and justice in the face of rampant and rapacious industrialism. The train symbolized the modern age better than anything else, representing technology, mobility, and money while literally cutting through the rural countryside whose decline (in power if nothing else) it heralded. The presence of the train in this painting certainly implies moving ahead, just as the celebrants signal the optimism widely held about the future. It seems almost quaint today, to realize the trains are mostly gone, much of the optimism invested in politics is gone, even the commitment to massive production in the nation seems to be gone. Not to seem overly maudlin about this, but I wonder if there's a comparable image that will convey such a positive outlook of our times, looking back a hundred years from now?

Thursday's Quote of the Day

Freidrich Leopold, Baron von Hardenburg, otherwise known as the poet Novalis (1772-1801), made this interesting point on the importance of philosophy. I wish most institutions of higher education took this more seriously, instead of seeing their sole role as preparing graduates for careers.

"The service of philosophy, or speculative
culture, toward the human spirit, is to
arouse, to startle it to a life of
constant and eager conservation."

Tribute to Powell & Loy

One of the all-time great movie series was The Thin Man string of films from the thirties and forties starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles. Based on a Dashiell Hammett novel (wherein the titular "Thin Man" referred not to Charles, but rather the man he was searching for), the series soon took off in a decidedly less hard-boiled direction than one might typically associate with Hammett's influence. Really, each successive film seemed to depend more and more on the appeal of the stars, but with a pair this well matched,that was plenty. Anyway, here's a series of clips that give you some idea of just how good these two actors were, and never moreso than when playing off each other (though the makers of this compilation might've included more Asta-- the canine star of the series):

Some Recent Photos

I've been chronicling my efforts to become better at taking pictures at night, and I think I am getting a little better (or at least, a bit more consistent). While that enterprise is mostly a technical exercise, I'm also trying to work at becoming better with my compositions, framing, and other more aesthetic elements. I'm making a little progress, though some of it may be due to luck-- when you take as many shots as I have in the past few weeks, the odds are that one or two will come out good. Anyway, here are a few recent favorites-- feel free to offer comments.

The first was taken Monday night at what used to be called Pilot Field (sorry, I can't bring myself to use the current name). It's not so much a night shot as it is a dusk photo, but the sky was pretty cool (there'd later be a rain delay in the game), and the colors of the field came out especially rich (using the lowest ISO setting is what I think contributed to that).

Here's a shot of nieces Emma and Natalie going up the slide at the Broad Street playground. Maybe it's way too red, but at least you can see both faces and they each have good expressions.

I've also been alternating shots in Sepia and straight Black & White with color shots. I thought this sepia image of a string of boats in the lake at Delaware Park turned out pretty good; and I think it's better because I actually got the foreground foliage in the shot.

I went back to Niagara Falls this past Sunday to play around with some more pictures, and kind of got lucky in that it rained. I think the appearance of the umbrellas here give this a quality that would be lacking if it were just figures at the guard rail (although maybe it would benefit from some cropping).

I think I saved the best for last-- I can't believe the color I got in this shot (also at the Falls, obviously). Part of it was that it was dusk, and there was rain and mist in the air reflecting light that was cast on the Falls. I just wish that garbage can weren't there-- it's just a little too obtrusive and wrecks what I think is otherwise a pretty good composition. I guess I'll have to figure out how to use Photoshop or something to get rid of it.

The Last Movie I Saw

I'm tempted to say that Away We Go, directed by Sam Mendes, portrays real people, but of course that isn't really accurate, though it's a great accomplishment to make it appear that way. It's a very sweet movie without being cloying. The two characters at the center of the story (played by Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski, seen above) remain so grounded in their relationship that they are able to roll with the antics of the more out-there friends and family they contend with, even as they struggle to come to terms with the massive changes that will arrive with their coming baby. In other words, the core of the film is so solid that the more bizarre elements (like Maggie Gyllenhaal's nutsy professor) never overwhelm it, even as they provide a degree of comic relief. The payoff is that more serious scenes (I was especially impressed with the scene where we learn of another couples bad luck with pregnancies) retain their weight and never feel like they are bringing the movie down. It's a neat balancing act, and no surprise that a sharp director like Mendes pulls it off. It's probably the best movie I've seen so far this summer, and one that's likely to stay with me a lot longer than the likes of The Hangover.

A Quote for Wednesday

I found this little nugget by William Edward Hartpole Lecky worth sharing. He was a 19th Century Irish historian, and I have to say I kind of like his take on dogmatism:

"In one age the persecutor burned the heretic; in
another, he crushed him with penal laws; in a third,
he withheld from him places of emolument and dignity;
in a fourth, he subjected him to excommunication
of society. Each stage of advancing toleration
marks a stage in the decline of dogmatism and
the increase of the spirit of truth."